Um...My Heart Hurts
Thursday, March 06, 2008 Posted In Insanity , Winnemucca Edit This 3 Comments »
A few nights ago Andrew got a sharp pain in his chest when we were getting ready to go to bed and didn’t think much of it. (Don’t worry he didn’t have a heart attack.) All day Tuesday he felt tension in his chest and it wouldn’t go away, so he decided to go on Web MD to see what it had to say. No matter what he typed in or clicked on, it told him he should be seeking immediate medical attention. So what did he do? He waited until I was off work to drive the 10 minutes from my mine site to his to pick him up and take him 45 minutes back to town to the emergency room.
When we got there he went to sign in and told the guy at the desk he had been having sharp pains in his chest and a continual tension. There were 3 or 4 people already waiting to get in, but I didn’t think we would have to wait because well…he’s been having chest pains. The guy told him to have a seat and they would get him back as soon as they could. Two and a half hours later they called him back. Let me repeat that…Two. And. A. Half. Hours. Later. The nurse took his vitals, asked him what the issue was, and sent us back to the waiting room because they didn’t have a room available yet.
If you have a bad memory like me you may have already forgotten what the problem is, so being the nice gal I am I’ll remind you. He has been having CHEST PAIN. While we were waiting my Dad called. This is how the conversation went down:
Dad: “You got a letter from (the place I work), and I wasn’t sure if it was important, so I stopped by your house and the lights are out and no one answered the door.”
Me: “That’s because we aren’t home…we’re at the emergency room”
I then proceeded to explain why and he said: “You’ve been there that long and they haven’t taken an EKG or anything????”
Me: “Nope. Apparently chest pain isn’t a big deal around here.”
Dad: “I’d be suing the hospital for $8 billion if there ends up being something wrong.”
Oh only $8 billion huh? Wow! We had a pretty good laugh about that.
They finally took him back and set him up for an EKG which involved several sticky patches attached to the hairiest part of his chest and lots of wires. The nurse laughed saying it was going to be fun ripping those off afterward and she told me I could do the honors if I wanted to. I liked her, but for some reason Andrew didn't find the humor. There was a monitor behind his head that showed his vitals and I had a pretty good time giving him the play by play of what it said. I have no idea what most of it meant, but I made it up as I went. At one point there was a loud beeping going on and flashing red lights and we both thought he was dying. Apparently we were wrong because no one came running and thankfully he is still alive. The EKG showed his heart is doing great, so that wasn't the issue.
The doctor poked, prodded, asked tons of questions, and decided to give him a GI Cocktail to see if it was heartburn. All that did was make his throat numb. Awesome. They then proceeded to take a chest x-ray which also showed his chest doing great. So you may be wondering what was wrong with him. Well honestly we don’t know and the doctor didn’t either. She thought it might be inflammation in the chest wall, so she ordered a shot of something that started with a T, 800 mg of ibuprofen every 8 hours, and if the pain returns he should go back to the hospital. Hmmmm…Did that help? No. Do we feel better about the situation? No. What are we going to do now? I don’t know.
OH…while we were waiting for the results of the x-ray we had to keep ourselves occupied (keep in mind that we were there for a total of 4 hours), so you know what we did? I’m kind of embarrassed to say, but Andrew was trying to teach me how to blow air out of the bottom of my mouth. You know how when you stick out your tongue and blow it makes a silly farty noise and your top lip kind of just flails around? Oh you don’t know. Dang it. Well take my word for it. So anyway when Andrew does this it is reversed and the air comes out of the bottom of his mouth and makes his bottom lip flail about. I couldn’t get it right for the life of me. The other people in the emergency room probably thought I was farting myself to death in our room.
When the doctor first entered our room she told us we had to stop laughing. I’m pretty sure she was joking, but she had to remind us we were in the ER. Side note: occasionally I revert back to about four years old just in case you were wondering. I was delirious, we were hungry, and Andrew was ready to tell them he felt better just to get out of there.
FYI: Just so you don’t think we’re some kind of freaks that think heart or chest problems are a laughing matter I thought you should know that Andrew was feeling fine and wanted to keep the mood light. If he wouldn’t have been feeling well or the pain returned believe me I wouldn’t have been laughing.
When we got there he went to sign in and told the guy at the desk he had been having sharp pains in his chest and a continual tension. There were 3 or 4 people already waiting to get in, but I didn’t think we would have to wait because well…he’s been having chest pains. The guy told him to have a seat and they would get him back as soon as they could. Two and a half hours later they called him back. Let me repeat that…Two. And. A. Half. Hours. Later. The nurse took his vitals, asked him what the issue was, and sent us back to the waiting room because they didn’t have a room available yet.
If you have a bad memory like me you may have already forgotten what the problem is, so being the nice gal I am I’ll remind you. He has been having CHEST PAIN. While we were waiting my Dad called. This is how the conversation went down:
Dad: “You got a letter from (the place I work), and I wasn’t sure if it was important, so I stopped by your house and the lights are out and no one answered the door.”
Me: “That’s because we aren’t home…we’re at the emergency room”
I then proceeded to explain why and he said: “You’ve been there that long and they haven’t taken an EKG or anything????”
Me: “Nope. Apparently chest pain isn’t a big deal around here.”
Dad: “I’d be suing the hospital for $8 billion if there ends up being something wrong.”
Oh only $8 billion huh? Wow! We had a pretty good laugh about that.
They finally took him back and set him up for an EKG which involved several sticky patches attached to the hairiest part of his chest and lots of wires. The nurse laughed saying it was going to be fun ripping those off afterward and she told me I could do the honors if I wanted to. I liked her, but for some reason Andrew didn't find the humor. There was a monitor behind his head that showed his vitals and I had a pretty good time giving him the play by play of what it said. I have no idea what most of it meant, but I made it up as I went. At one point there was a loud beeping going on and flashing red lights and we both thought he was dying. Apparently we were wrong because no one came running and thankfully he is still alive. The EKG showed his heart is doing great, so that wasn't the issue.
The doctor poked, prodded, asked tons of questions, and decided to give him a GI Cocktail to see if it was heartburn. All that did was make his throat numb. Awesome. They then proceeded to take a chest x-ray which also showed his chest doing great. So you may be wondering what was wrong with him. Well honestly we don’t know and the doctor didn’t either. She thought it might be inflammation in the chest wall, so she ordered a shot of something that started with a T, 800 mg of ibuprofen every 8 hours, and if the pain returns he should go back to the hospital. Hmmmm…Did that help? No. Do we feel better about the situation? No. What are we going to do now? I don’t know.
OH…while we were waiting for the results of the x-ray we had to keep ourselves occupied (keep in mind that we were there for a total of 4 hours), so you know what we did? I’m kind of embarrassed to say, but Andrew was trying to teach me how to blow air out of the bottom of my mouth. You know how when you stick out your tongue and blow it makes a silly farty noise and your top lip kind of just flails around? Oh you don’t know. Dang it. Well take my word for it. So anyway when Andrew does this it is reversed and the air comes out of the bottom of his mouth and makes his bottom lip flail about. I couldn’t get it right for the life of me. The other people in the emergency room probably thought I was farting myself to death in our room.
When the doctor first entered our room she told us we had to stop laughing. I’m pretty sure she was joking, but she had to remind us we were in the ER. Side note: occasionally I revert back to about four years old just in case you were wondering. I was delirious, we were hungry, and Andrew was ready to tell them he felt better just to get out of there.
FYI: Just so you don’t think we’re some kind of freaks that think heart or chest problems are a laughing matter I thought you should know that Andrew was feeling fine and wanted to keep the mood light. If he wouldn’t have been feeling well or the pain returned believe me I wouldn’t have been laughing.
3 comments:
Hi Al,
Read your blog its pretty good and nice to see you have the family sensibilities. Humor, Humor, Humor I love it. Your relative at large Kim
that's scary, glad he is feeling better and you were able to keep each other company and stay on the bright side. Make sure he gets some good rest!
Hmmmmmm could be one of several things, the least of which is referred pain from wind and the more serious side could be a developing aneurysm (don't panic, extremely rare). I am voting that it was bad wind pain....he is a man after all. If it happens again though, straight back to the emergency dept, thats where you want him to be if the pain suddenly gets unbearable, eh? xo
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